East Germany’s Soviet Heritage – Löwen-Adler barracks and the Elstal Olympic Village

When hearing of the Olympic Village for the 1936 Berlin Games, then people quickly think about Hitler, the Nazis as well as their making a cult out of Hindenburg, the former WW I hero and later President of the Reich. However also the Soviet Army lodged itself in strategically well located Elstal and its Löwen-Adler Kaserne military barracks, leaving a very interesting melange behind as in the Olympic Village not only a terrific abandoned swimming pool can be seen, but also a mix of clearly recognizable Nazi elements neighbouring with typical Soviet iconography… Read More

Gasometer – Berlin-Schöneberg’s steel skeleton

Hip and cool Berlin can be pretty shallow as with having a highest elevation of only ~100 metres it’s generally got a very flat topography. And since German megalomania once also regulated the maximum height for residential buildings, it is very easy to overlook whole Berlin when standing on elevated places.… Read More

East Germany’s Soviet Heritage – Soviet eyrie Sperenberg

“Heather of the Mark, Sand of the Mark” – that is what Brandenburg State’s anthem is all about and to the south of Berlin, in Sperenberg you can find plenty of it as meanwhile nature took over from once deployed Soviet airmen. Being built by GDR for its big brother and comrade in arms, the Russians used the airfield until 1994.… Read More

East Germany’s Soviet Heritage – The Berlin Pankow War Cemetery

The Battle of Berlin in 1945 claimed more than 170.000 killed soldiers and several ten thousands of dead civilians. More than half a million people got wounded, physically as well as mentally. The Soviet War Memorial at Schönholzer Heide in Berlin’s Pankow district is final resting place to more than 13.000 Red Army soldiers that fell victim to that final combat… Read More

Oberbaum, Berlin Wall and so on…

Berlin-based bridge Oberbaumbrücke is a symbol for many things: Where nowadays cars, metros and tourists cross Spree River from north to south, was once the border between the East and the West. The former border strip was guided by the course of the river; a route, that today is famous for pleasure boat trips.… Read More

Berlin’s Olympia Stadium in Black and White

Many of Berlin’s places of interest, no matter if built for “perpetuity” or perpetually not being accomplished, are often hard-wired to a single name. Ulbricht has his TV Tower, Wowereit his BBI airport desaster and Honecker dreamed of a 100 years lasting wall. In the 1930’s such dreams year-lasting-wise even had one more zero in the end and threw Germany as well as the rest of the world into turmoil.… Read More

East Germany’s Soviet Heritage – The mighty Wünsdorf garrison

Village of 6.000 souls versus military town with up to 75.000 soldiers – Back in the days the Soviets knew very well how to make use of Wünsdorf (Вюнсдорф), a settlement being located in Berlin’s south along the railroad leading to Dresden. Even if the whole territory is abandoned for several years now and completely fenced, it is possible to have a closer look at the heart of the complex, the today’s House of Officers, a building telling manifold stories of times when it was Army Sports School for the Nazi as well as even before for the emperor… Read More